Insurance News Archive

Info pack controversy continues

The head of one of Britain's biggest house building companies has called for the abolition of Home Information Packs (Hips).

John White, chief executive of Persimmon, has warned that the packs may make people reluctant to put their home on the market, forcing house prices up.

"These Hips are mooted to prevent gazumping and speed up the house buying process, but they won't achieve either of these things," said Mr White. "They may even slow down the market by reducing the number of properties put up for sale, which would lead to a surge in house prices."

"I would hope they are not introduced. It would be folly to risk disrupting the housing market and I am not sure what it will achieve," he added.

Hips - which become mandatory from June 2007 - will include structural and environmental surveys. They have been introduced by the government to cut down on duplication of surveys and to place their cost with the seller, potentially making the process easier and cheaper for first-time buyers.

Mortgage lender GMAC-RFC warned this week that property transactions could fall by between ten and 25 per cent as a result of the introduction of Hips, causing knock-on effects to the UK economy as a whole.

GMAC-RFC's research - which the Association of Home Information Pack Providers has called "pure speculation" - found that in the worst case scenario unemployment could rise by 93,000 as a direct result of the packs' introduction.

28 Jun 2006